Has my iPhone become PIN-locked because of 2.1? What to do?

I have an original first generation iPhone that has since been de-activated and used as an iPod when I upgraded to a new 3G. When I upgrade from 2.02 to 2.1, iTunes gave me the error that it could not activate the phone. I was locked out of using it. The phone was in airplane mode before the upgrade. By using the slider to pretend to make an emergency call, I was able to disable airplane mode and it connected to my local WiFi network. I then reconnected it to iTunes. It activated and now works fine. So - do not upgrade in airplane mode. If you did, start to make an emergency call to cancel airplane mode. I am not sure if it is the wireless network or the direct connection to iTunes that it used to activate, since there is no SIM card.

3 outside-chance-of-success ideas, but can't think of better:

1. Do a restore on the phone
2. Change the USB port (especially, if you're using a hub, connect directly). Some sync functions are very sensitive to the quality of the USB connection.
3. Try reinstalling iTunes 8

Just re-read your original post, and I'm wondering whether the US/Japan thing might be it. Do you have a Japan iTunes account? If so, might be worth downloading the update from there and restoring -it wouldn't be a total shock if the US download was expecting US carrier account activation details.

Did you get the "Waiting on Activation" message too?
I have the same problem 😟

I am having the exact same issue and am freaking out!

I am an activated original US EDGE 8GB iPhone user and am traveling in the UK. I had been using the phone on wifi-only Airplane Mode this week with no problems.

Just updated my mac to iTunes 8; then updated the iPhone to iPhone 2.1 (or so I thought). But before the iPhone software update cycle completed, the same "no SIM" pop-up error message the OP saw displays in iTunes. Then, on the phone, I see the same "Connect to iTunes" message.

The only options I see on the iPhone are clicking an "info" button (which gives me an IMEI number and "ICCID: Unknown" info), or making an emergency call (which wouldn't work anyway since I am still in airplane mode. But I can't find any option now on the bricked phone to turn off airplane mode. Rebooting doesn't help. Haven't removed/reinserted the SIM yet but I'm sure that won't help me just as it didn't help the OP.

Is there any way for me to get out of this? I need to use the phone today (urgently) and can't take it back to the US for service for another week?!

<Edited by Moderator>

Sorry to spam this forum. I just followed Neurorad's suggestion above (*more closely* this time) and it worked.

Please note that if you want to use "emergency call" to kick the phone out of Airplane Mode, you can't just move the slider over into "emergency call" mode but actually have to enter an emergency (or fake emergency) number and try to dial it. Then, you get a pop-up asking if you want to exit airplane mode. That did the trick for me.

If you entered the unlock code 10 times it becomes permanently locked and you need a new sims card... Call your carrier

Thanks. I tried what you said and it worked perfectly!

bjkbjk wrote:
Haven't removed/reinserted the SIM yet but I'm sure that won't help me just as it didn't help the OP.

That's a horrible trouble-shooting technique. Just try it. (Warning: Car analogy) It's like saying "My car won't start. I haven't tried adding gas yet, but it didn't work for the OP, so I'm sure it won't help me".

It's entirely possible the OP has a different issue with the same symptoms.

I just had this problem and apple told me to do a force recovery of my iphone by powering down the iphone then holding the home button for 5 seconds then hook the usb cable into itunes and it activates the forced recovery mode. This fixed the problem for me. Just had to re-sync all my songs and stuff.

Neurorad The Airplane Mode Trick Worked Thank You Soooooooooooo Much!!!!!!!!!
I always put my phone in airplane mode b4 an update but this time i regret doing it
it scared me to death. Thank you sooooo much for helping me!!!
-Baxter from Virginia